Plot Twist: Could TWO James's Ball in Cleveland? (Plus Where to Pin-ball Drop into 2025!)

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Good morning, Cleveland. Where will you be when the clock strikes 12 for New Year’s Eve? Check out our top picks for NYE celebrations in the city. 🕛🎊 First time reading? Join over 10,000 local curious readers. Sign up here.

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In today’s 216 Scoop Edition: 

• The clock is ticking on 2024: Are you ready for NYE?

• Cleveland’s most beloved dive bar is for sale

• Is Bronny James coming to Cleveland?

• Get an early start on ‘25 by partying like its ‘85

• Pinball + cocktails + heavy jams…

  
  by John Petkovic, Mark Espinosa, Victor Takakura

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IN THE NEWS

The clock is ticking on 2024: Are you ready for NYE?

Time is running out on 2024 and there are so many parties lining up to take you to ’25 that you have to start planning now. Monday’s newsletter will roll out all sorts of options. Here are four for now:

Retro Future at Mahall’s, 13200 Madison Avenue, Lakewood: The club-bar-bowling complex hosted unique, fun themes in ’24. It keeps it going into ’25 with ‘Retro Future’ – a bash with a Y2K theme, dance-like-crazy energy and music from the 1960s through the ‘90s in three different areas.

Final Countdown NYE at BIG BANG, 1163 Front Avenue: This soiree waves goodbye to a year and an era for the Flats East Bank. The popular dueling-pianos club, which anchored the entertainment district for a decade, will be closing Jan. 20.The party runs 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tickets start at $30.

Lago 2025 NYE at Hotel Cleveland, 24 Public Square: Lago’s annual NYE parties keep getting bigger and bigger. This year’s extravaganza heads to Hotel Cleveland and offers a high-roller Vegas-like experience, complete with art installations, casino games, a seated dinner, big buffets, live music and performers and more. 8 p.m.

New Orleans NYE bash at Bourbon Street Barrel Room, 2393 Professor Avenue, Tremont: The fun-loving bar-eatery will break out the beads, masks and vibes – not to mention drinks, food and live music for an over-the-top celebration of all things New Orleans. 9:30 p.m. to 1 p.m.

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Cleveland’s most beloved dive bar is for sale

Over 50 years, the Ugly Broad has come to personify the ultimate dive bar – and Cleveland most charming watering holes. What happens next is up for negotiation.

The beloved institution is for sale. Owner Sherry Perry is retiring after a half-century serving as dive-bar queen.

For $275,000, you get a 1924 building with 4,326 square feet over two stories located at 3902 Denison Avenue. There’s the bar on the first floor, two apartments and includes two liquor licenses.

According to a Cutler Real Estate listing, you also get “a piece of Cleveland’s history” and the chance to “continue the long standing tradition of the area's most popular dive bar or rebrand as a bar/restaurant in an up and coming location.”

Devotees no doubt hope it stays the same, including the name – which played an integral role in the bar becoming part of local legend.

“It used to be called the plain ol’ Pub, and there were three other bars in the area, and no one was stopping by our place,” Perry once told me. “So we sat around thinking what we could do, and one of the guys around the bar says, ‘How about the Ugly Broad?’”

An instant hit. People wanted to see who would come up with such a name – and, of course, a motto like, “The best in beer and bullshit.”

Is Bronny James coming to Cleveland?

When the Lakers sent Bronny James down to its G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers, fans started speculating on the chances they would get to see LeBron’s son in action.

Bronny was initially expected to only play home games for the Lakers’ junior league team – that is, until he played in Tempe, Arizona against the Valley Suns on Dec. 13.

Well, this weekend the South Bay Lakers are coming to Cleveland to play the Charge twice – 7 p.m. tonight and tomorrow in Public Hall.

What are the chances he shows up?

Billed as “Deck the Halls,” a page on the Charge Web site promoting the weekend initially featured a photo of Bronny. Currently, it features only a photo of Luke Travers – who is being honored on Friday with ‘Mullet Mania,” a promotion in which the first 1,500 fans get a ‘Luke Travers Mullet.’ On Saturday, the first 1,500 attendees get a “Sherpa Bucket Hat.”

Bronny was with the Lakers on Christmas Day, when they played on the road against Golden State. (He didn’t play.)

So, the odds do not favor a Cleveland visit – but the weekend match-up is a chance to get a mullet, a hat, watch a game and soak in the aura of the Charge’s new home.

The 216 Digest

Pinball + cocktails + heavy jams… Yes!

Crazy flipper fingers and a pocketful of quarters. Woohoo, it’s Superelectric Pinball Parlor, 6500 Detroit Avenue, Cleveland. Yeah, you get to play vintage arcade games and drink a cocktail and hang out. Saturday, you also get to bang to the cat’s meow of Cleveland’s rock ‘n’ roll scene – musician and DJ Tony Erba – spinning heavy jams. 8-11 p.m.

Get an early start on ‘25 by partying like it’s ‘85

Yes, you can dance if you want to at This Must Be the Place: New Wave New Year Party at B-Side Lounge, 2785 Euclid Heights Boulevard, Cleveland Heights. At 9 p.m. tonight, the pre-NYE bash will get you ready for 2025 with a party that sounds like 1985. It features DJs Sputnik, Mimi Dromette and Guilty Pleasures spinning ‘80s music – as in, the Cure, Devo, Tears for Fears, Duran Duran, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Human League.

You can take the comedian out of Cleveland, but… 

Many leave, but they always return. Which is why Hilarities Comedy Club at Pickwick and Frolic, 2035 East Fourth Street, rolls out Home for the Holidays. The annual show features comedians who’ve left town but return for the holidays. The 14^th installment starts 9:45 tonight.

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NOTES ON A COCKTAIL NAPKIN!

SPORTS, ENTERTAINMENT, & CULTURE

The clown princes of hoops royalty are back

For nearly a century, the Harlem Globetrotters have been rolling out sight gags, crazy stunts and wild shots on to basketball courts around the world. The fun-loving exhibitionists have played more than 26,000 games – more than 16,000 of those against longtime punching bag, the Washington Generals. The teams face off again for the ‘Trotters annual show at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse at 3 p.m. Sunday.

All eyes on the draft for the Browns

Say goodbye to the home season. At 4:05 p.m. Sunday, the Browns play their finale at Huntington Bank Field against the Miami Dolphins. The Browns currently hold the fifth spot in the 2025 NFL draft with two games left to play but will move up to fourth if they lose. (The Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars square off Sunday and both are tied with the Browns with a 3-12 record.)

VINTAGE CLEVELAND

Cinerama debuts at the Palace Theater in Playhouse Square in 1956.

The widescreen process — which projected images simultaneously from three synchronized 35mm projectors onto a curved screen — was hyped as the future of cinema. It only lasted three at the Palace.

And don’t forget! Tag @The216Scoop to get your photos in the Scoop!

EXTRA SPRINKLES

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Whether you're planning to escape winter from Minnesota or chase summer from Vancouver, we've got the hookup for over 200 airports across the U.S. and Canada. Points guru? Cash saver? Fancy first-class dreamer? We've got something for everyone! Ready to turn those "someday" travels into "see you next weekend" adventures? Join Thrifty Traveler Premium now – because the only thing better than traveling the world is doing it while keeping your wallet thicc! 🌎✨

Calling All Kitchen Rockstars! 🎸👩‍🍳

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From stand mixers that'll outlast your latest Netflix binge to coffee makers that understand Monday mornings better than your therapist, we're talking quality that's passed down through generations (like your family's lasagna recipe, but more reliable 😉). And because we know your kitchen style is as unique as your signature dish, we've got colors and designs that'll make your countertop look like it belongs in a magazine spread. Ready to turn your kitchen into the culinary playground of your dreams? Hop over to KitchenAid.com now – because life's too short for wimpy whisks and mediocre mixers! 🎨🧁

WEATHER

Friday

51°F 🌡️ 46°F | 🌧️ | 20% | 💨 SW 10 mph (9 knots)

Saturday

59°F 🌡️ 51°F | 🌧️ | 40% | 💨 SW 12 mph (10 knots)

Sunday

54°F 🌡️ 40°F | 🌧️ | 30% | 💨 SW 15 mph (13 knots)

Live Music in the 216

Friday

Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse | Trans-Siberian Orchestra | 3 PM

Mahall's | People In The Daytime + Solon + Others | 7 PM

Beachland Ballroom & Tavern | Austin Stambaugh's Electric Weepers + Others | 7 PM

Saturday

The Roxy | Hammy New Year ft Heart Attack Man + Others | 6 PM

Happy Dog | Delay Reunion + Moodswing + Others | 9 PM

House of Blues | The Vindys | 7 PM

Sunday

Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse | Harlem Globetrotters | 3 PM

Beachland Ballroom | Dopapod + People in the Daytime | 7 PM

The Foundry | The Anti-Queens + Lilieae + Wasted Society | 7 PM

For tickets and more information visit: livemusicincleveland.com

The 216 Sports Arena

Upcoming Games

Cavaliers
Home vs. Milwaukee Bucks, 7:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 27
Home vs. Philadelphia 76ers, 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 28

Cleveland Monsters
Home vs. Rochester Americans, 3 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 29

Cleveland Charge
Home vs. South Bay Lakers, 7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 27
Home vs. South Bay Lakers, 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 28

Thanks for reading The 216 Scoop today. If you found something useful, please share it with someone who went to the Little Italy 🍝 recently.